Haden has almost 6,000 followers, so unsolicited job advice is never more than a couple mouse clicks away. Haden has received an eyeful of late, at the end of a football season in which the Trojans, preseason national championship favorites, finished with a 7-5 record. The basketball team is off to a 4-7 start.

Two months into his third year on the job, Haden sat for an interview with the Register. He staunchly defended football coach Lane Kiffin – including Kiffin's play-calling acumen – and slapped back at critics who have called for him to make drastic changes after one disappointing season.

A lawyer by trade, Haden can be specific in his arguments, such as when he defends the football program, or a bit vague, such as when he is asked about Todd McNair's lawsuit against the NCAA.

Orange County Register: We should probably start with how things went in football this year...

Haden: I'm happy enough with football. We have great people. Our kids are really high-quality, high-character kids. Did we have the season we hoped for? Absolutely not. But this happens in institutions. You're going to have some highs and lows. I don't think people truly understand what we're going through with the probation. It's not an excuse. It's just a fact. The 75 scholarship (limit) doesn't necessarily affect us as much on Saturday as it does Monday through Friday, as you prepare with those 10 fewer scholarships. You don't have somebody to imitate Oregon or Stanford or UCLA like you might have if you had a redshirting five-star athlete who can imitate (Brett) Hundley or the kid at Oregon. It wasn't the kind of season we hoped for. Are we despairing? No. We are determined to work as hard as we need to work to have a better experience next year.

OCR: After the UCLA game, Lane Kiffin said he had been told he would return in 2013, and you confirmed that. Was there ever any doubt in your mind?

Haden: No. The answer is no.

OCR: What gives you that confidence in him? I know you've talked about academics and recruiting and those sorts of things...

Haden: But those aren't just 'sorts of things.' Those are important to us. It's not 'just another thing.' You can't be dismissive of those. We have interest in high graduation rates, and he's done really a terrific job in the two years he's been here, in that category. The numbers that get reflected now aren't his classes. The numbers you see published now aren't his classes. We've had no major NCAA issues. We don't have off-the-field issues with our kids. We have kids of high character.

Having said all that, every coach is in the winning business. Every one of our 21 head coaches here, at the end of the day, you have to win. That's the business they have chosen as their profession. They all know that and we all know that. But it's not just a one-year phenomenon that you look at. If you look at Notre Dame, just as an example, I believe they were 8-5 the last two years. I think Florida was 7-5 a year ago (actually 7-6). As an administrator, I can't get caught up in a one-season thing. Last year, I had people on me for not extending Lane Kiffin. This year, I have people on me for not making a change. I get paid to make the decisions that I think are right, long-term, for USC athletics, and that's what I'm doing. If the president doesn't ultimately think I'm making the right decisions here, he will fire me. But I think it's the absolute right decision to have Lane Kiffin as our coach, and I hope it's for a long time. I'm not saying this is just for next year. I hope it's for a long time. I think he has that kind of future ahead of him.

OCR: You mentioned Notre Dame and Florida, and obviously they bounced back quite nicely. What specifically is it, here, that makes you confident this is just a one-year thing?

Haden: I think we have to get through this probationary period. We still have two more years of scholarship limitations. This whole Reggie Bush thing is going to last a decade, by the time we're finished with it. We've got two more years of scholarship limitations, so we've got to kind of work our way through that. Lane has a viable plan to do that. He has recruited remarkably well. Let's not forget, too, that some of the offensive numbers he has coordinated over the last few years are pretty good. There have been all-time records in the quarterback department with Matt Barkley. We've averaged 37 points a game, or whatever it has been, for the most part in the last three years. You should win most of your ballgames if you score 37 points. Where we have failed has been on the defensive side of the ball. We haven't played well, at times, on defense. We got shredded by a couple teams that run the spread. So we've got to do a better job there, and I think he's making some changes on that side of the ball. He has already talked about his defensive coordinator. He's a great recruiter, there's no doubt about it. He's a tireless worker. With me, he's been incredibly compliant, vis-a-vis NCAA rules. And I think he's a really good play-caller.

OCR: You're aware, I'm sure, that not everyone holds that opinion...

Haden: Yeah. I have street cred. I called plays in my era for seven years. I know there are people out there (who think that). This is where you can't wallow in the wind. I believe there is good rationale to have him here as our head coach and support him. I believe we're headed in the right direction. As I said, I believe it's some of the same people. When we went 10-2, I got dozens and dozens of emails from people about extending him. I did. I got dozens of emails. So that's why I say, I've got to feel like I'm making the right decisions and live with it, live with the consequences and live with the bloggers.

OCR: Nobody's public perception is ever totally accurate. Lane takes a lot of criticism, both personally and professionally, and it has almost taken on a life of its own. In terms of people criticizing him, what's been fair and what hasn't been fair?

Haden: He takes a lot of heat from people, I guess, on the blogosphere, but among people who know him, perception and reality are two different things. He is not the personality of Pete Carroll. For some people, that's the issue. But that's what it is. He's different from Pete Carroll. He has been blamed for some things that he had nothing to do with. The ball (deflating) thing, walk-throughs at the Coliseum. The jersey (number-changing) thing was a failure. We tripped ourselves up on that one. Has he tripped over a few things? Sure he has. So have I. I didn't hear any of this when we won 10 games. Unfortunately, in his profession, winning cures a lot of things. But I'm looking at kind of a larger palate that just that.

OCR: As an alum of the football program and now the athletic director, do you see things differently now than you did five or 10 years ago, when you were watching more from the outside?

Haden: It's much different now. Your nose is on the window pane, so you see all the goodness and the badness, the things that you're concerned about and the things that you love. You see it every day. You live it every day.

OCR: Because I'm sure you were a very interested observer before...

Haden: I was an interested observer. I wanted to be proud of the university. I wanted us to win as many games as possible, knowing full well that you're not going to win every game, every year, like some people expect us to. I just wanted to be proud of the kind of kids we have, who represent our university. Universities are very unique institutions. Unlike corporations, they live for hundreds and hundreds of years. We were founded in 1880. We're going to be here in 2080 and 3080, etc. So it takes all this time to build this reputation. There are lots of reputational risks in athletics, with NCAA violations, potential academic frauds, all those things that you worry about as an administrator. That's what keeps you up at night. Yes, the losses are troubling, but you want to protect the brand of USC the best you can.

OCR: You've mentioned the NCAA sanctions. There have been stories of late, related to Todd McNair's defamation lawsuit, that haven't put the NCAA in a very good light, and have called into question whether USC was treated fairly in that investigation. Do you any reaction to that? Have you been following it?

Haden: We're tracking it. I think this is going to take a long time to work its way through the legal system. I don't think we're going to know anything for quite some time. If and when facts come out that are different from what we understand today, we will reconvene.

OCR: Do you know of any options you might have? You have two more years of scholarship reductions. Do you hold any hope that could be reduced?

Haden: Not under the current rules and processes. We've had two shots and lost twice at the NCAA level. So it would have to be some extraordinary circumstance.

OCR: Nothing that you can foresee right now?

Haden: Nothing that I can foresee at this moment. But again, we'll be interested to see what transpires, if this evidence is ever released.

OCR: Some of the things that the judge wrote about, some of the emails that he mentioned that seemed to be quite inflammatory, did you know that stuff existed?

Haden: No.

OCR: Did you have any particular reaction when you heard about it?

Haden: We already went through a very rigorous appeal process. It was one of the first things I went through when I got hired, was a very rigorous appeal. We put on what I thought was a very good appeal. But we flat-out lost it. That is, under the current system, our last shot.

OCR: What is the status of the basketball program and Coach Kevin O'Neill right now, trying to get things turned around after a rough year last season?

Haden: It couldn't have been worse last year. I, and we as a department, are very interested in having long-term success, consistent success in basketball. It's critical to us. There's no reason we can't be good in two sports, like Florida and Michigan and Ohio State, for example. But again, I got the same calls about (firing) Kevin a year ago, but I didn't think it was fair to Kevin, because of the hand he was dealt when he first got here. (Improvement) hasn't been reflected in the record so far, but it's still early in the season. I feel we have a much better team, but we have to be more successful on the court, with more wins. But I think we are making progress there. There is a lot of the season to be played out, and we'll just see how it goes.

OCR: Because the basketball program is beyond its NCAA sanctions, is there a little more heat on Kevin O'Neill? There aren't the same roadblocks that football faces, for instance.

Haden: No. For me, all 21 sports have to graduate players, they have to comply with NCAA rules, they have to provide a great environment for their athletes and, at the end of the day, they have to win. They're in that business. So I don't think Kevin O'Neill is in any different of a position than any of our other coaches.

OCR: USC has had great success in some programs that don't get as much attention, such as water polo and volleyball and tennis. How do those programs fit into your overall vision?

Haden: For us, in our department, they're just as important. I know everybody focuses on football and, secondarily, basketball, but we have an obligation to provide the best opportunities for our women's tennis team, as an example, or volleyball or track and field. They need to have just as positive an experience as any one of our football or basketball players. That's my job. That's our job. Best facilities, best coaches, best scheduling, best academic experience. So we really revel in their success. Our Olympic-sports success here is unparalleled. You probably know the numbers, so I won't regurgitate those again, but it's staggering. We have some of the world's best athletes. We're also proud that, within the athletic department, we also have some of USC's best students. We have this Renaissance Scholars program, where the top 10 Renaissance Scholars each year get a postgraduate award. Two of the top 10 the last two years, 20 percent, have been athletes. Phenomenal. I'm the athletic director, not the football director. We have 21 sports. We love them all and we nurture them all. It's the 40th anniversary of Title IX, and we love our female athletes and what they have done and what they continue to do. They inspire us. It's one of the reasons I love the job. You're around a university campus, where things are percolating, and young people who are vibrant and successful.

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